'Castle' gets a full second season By Rick Porter | October 20, 2009 5:11 PM

"Castle" has a few more stories to tell. ABC confirmed late Tuesday afternoon that it has picked up a full second season of the crime show, which has been pulling down consistent ratings this fall. The network had originally ordered only 13 episodes, as is customary for midseason shows. The back-nine order comes a day after the show set up a way for mystery novelist Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) to keep tailing NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). In Monday's episode, Castle's novel starring the Nikki Heat character based on Beckett debuted to rave reviews and big sales -- which means the publisher wants a sequel -- and Beckett got the order from above to keep him on as a consultant.

"Castle" is the fifth ABC show to get a full-season order this fall. The other four -- "FlashForward," "The Middle," "Modern Family" and "Cougar Town" -- are all newcomers. The series has drawn steady but unspectacular ratings so far this season. It's averaging about 10.2 million viewers a week and a 2.6 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic. Those numbers include seven-day DVR viewing for the first two weeks of the season; its same-day ratings have hovered between 9 million and 9.5 million viewers and a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating.